The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) accused Apple of assisting US intelligence services in spying on Russia, China, Israel, and various NATO countries. Apple responded it never collaborated with any government to insert backdoors into its products. This dispute erupted after Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky discovered compromised iPhones on its internal network. The firm claims an APT group took advantage of the iPhones in an attack dubbed Operation Triangulation.
Kaspersky data shows that the attack began with malicious attachments sent over iMessage that don’t require user feedback. The malware runs with root privileges and exploits code execution and privilege escalation vulnerabilities. It collects system and personal information including audio, photos from messages, and geolocation from users within the compromised system. Kaspersky noted that the attack impacted multiple senior employees. The Russian cybersecurity firm has a checkered history of assisting the NSA in detecting security breaches, but it has also been accused of providing NSA data to Russian hackers. Apple is willing to work with US investigators but refuses to implement encryption backdoors to expedite the process.
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